The Bruins have already had to make a few critical decisions on 19-year-old rookie center Matt Poitras this season. They decided to keep him around for a nine-game extended tryout after a strong preseason and training camp. They decided to keep him beyond that extended tryout, beginning his entry-level contract in the process. And they decided to make him available to Team Canada for the World Junior Championships last month, giving him another new experience in a season already full of them.
There may be another decision to be made on Poitras in the coming weeks: Whether he's going to finish the season in Boston, or whether he still might be sent back to Guelph in the Ontario Hockey League at some point.
It's a topic NESN's Andrew Raycroft and Billy Jaffe discussed on a recent episode of the Morning Bru podcast, and it's one listener Sharon asked us about as part of our latest Skate Pod mailbag (listen above):
What do you think Bruins will do with Matt Poitras after the break. Curious because of very diminished playing time/4th line and better play from Geekie & Boqvist - do you think they end up sending him back to Guelph and then when their season ends having him come back as a Black Ace?
OK, so as Sharon alludes to, the impetus for this discussion is that Poitras's role and production have both decreased recently.
Poitras has zero points in his last five games. He has one goal in his last 22 games dating back to Nov. 6. He has gotten under nine minutes of ice time in three of his last four games.
This middle part of Poitras's season has been disjointed, to say the least. He missed eight games while playing for Canada at World Juniors. Upon returning, he played three games, but then missed the next four after suffering a shoulder injury. Then he played two, sat out the front end of a back-to-back as part of the team's load management plan for him, played one, and then missed another game Saturday due to injury. It's unclear if this injury is related to the shoulder injury or something different, and it's unclear if it might linger beyond this All-Star break.
If you believe in the dreaded "rookie wall," well, isn't this what it looks like? Getting banged up? Needing nights off? A decline in production? Having your minutes slashed? All the signs are there.
And that gets to the heart of the decision the Bruins may need to make. Do they believe Poitras can work his way around this wall and get back on track? Or do they think he might be stuck for the rest of the season, unable to get his game back to where it was for the first couple months of the season?
If it's the latter, then sending Poitras back to Guelph could be on the table (remember: he's not eligible to be sent to AHL Providence). This version of Poitras wouldn't really seem to have a regular home in a playoff or stretch-run lineup for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. And if he's not going to play regularly in Boston, or is only going to get limited minutes, then perhaps playing big minutes in the OHL and playing in the OHL playoffs would be a better way to finish the season.
But if it's the former, then sending Poitras back to juniors makes no sense. If the Bruins still believe the player they saw in October, November and December is in there, then that is a valuable player and one they should want to keep around.
Let's remember what Poitras was doing. Before leaving for World Juniors, he had 13 points in 27 games while averaging 14:06 time on ice. He was tied for seventh on the team in scoring at that point.
Even with this January swoon factored in, Poitras is still fifth on the Bruins in 5-on-5 points per 60 minutes (2.00). Only Charlie Coyle, David Pastrnak, Trent Frederic and James van Riemsdyk have been better. He's ahead of names like Brad Marchand, Pavel Zacha, Jake DeBrusk and Morgan Geekie.
Before this most recent injury, Bruins coach Jim Montgomery reflected on Poitras's season to date, and he sounded like someone who still believes Poitras has something to offer this year's team.
"I think you would say that the first 15, 20 games was excellent," Montgomery said last week. "Then the grind of the season and just getting used to the NHL at 19, there was a little bit of a pullback in his play. But he has responded.
"The one thing we love about him is his smarts, his willingness to want to make plays, and his competitiveness. That's something that we think is only going to help him long-term, short-term in what the Bruins are trying to do. He's a big piece of our team."
One other factor to consider here is the 40 games played mark. Poitras is currently at 33. If/when he gets to 40, this season would count as a full year of service time, which means Poitras could become eligible to test unrestricted free agency at 26 years old instead of 27.
As I've explained before, I actually don't think that is as important as some have made it out to be. If Poitras continues to develop into the kind of player it looks like he's going to be, the Bruins would want to lock him up on a long-term extension well before he'd ever approach unrestricted free agency anyways.
My personal opinion on this is that, assuming he's healthy, it's worth giving Poitras every opportunity to get back on track in Boston. Because if he can do so, he's still a talented offensive player who can help this team. I certainly don't think it's time to call it a season and send him back to Guelph just yet.
